Belgium's Economic Inspectorate checked thirteen festivals in the 2025 season and found breaches at six of them. The same inspection reviewed festivals' own ticket resale systems and found not a single breach.
What happened
FOD Economie / SPF Économie, Belgium's federal Ministry of Economy, published a festival survival guide with ten tips for festival-goers on 24 June 2026. The subtitle is aimed at organisers: informing visitors properly remains a point of attention.
The statement gives the tally for the previous summer, the 2025 season. The Economic Inspectorate checked 13 festivals and found breaches at six. The most common failing was properly informing visitors about how the festival's payment system works and about the possibility of a refund, both on the website and on site. The inspection also examined festivals' own ticket resale systems: there it found no breaches at all.
The ministry's resale figures run on a separate track. It logged 363 reports of fraudulent ticket sales in 2025 and 39 between 1 January and 11 June 2026. An infringement notice was issued in each of those two years. The statement itself explains that this limited number of notices is partly because the Economic Inspectorate ran a dedicated coordinated investigation into fraudulent ticket sales in 2023 and 2024.
The checks are measured against a written benchmark. The guidelines "Het gebruik van eigen betaalmiddelen op evenementen" — the use of own payment methods at events — were published in April 2024 and drawn up in partnership with the Federatie van Muziekfestivals in Vlaanderen (FMiV), the Fédération des Festivals de Musique Wallonie-Bruxelles (FFMWB) and the Event Confederation. They are not law. They are ministry guidelines drawn up with the sector, and they are what the inspectorate checks against: visitors must be able to buy the own payment method either in cash or electronically; refunds are not compulsory, but if a festival offers them it may charge a fair fee provided it gave clear notice beforehand and the process isn't excessively cumbersome; prices must be clearly displayed on site; and communication about deposits on reusable cups must be accurate.
The tally from the previous round, published on 14 November 2024 under the headline "three out of four festivals follow the rules", was limited to those guidelines: 12 music festivals checked, nine compliant, two warnings and one infringement notice. That round did not look at (online) ticket sales, resale options, cancellation terms, or instalment payment. The statement announced that future checks would also examine ticket sales and cancellation options.
| Summer 2024 | Festivals | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Own payment method (wristband, card, drink tokens) | 11 | Six with their own currency; at five of those six, the price in euros was also clearly displayed |
| Infringement notice | 1 | For using an incomplete and unclear conversion table |
| Refund of leftover balance at the end | 11 | Nine charged a fee for doing so; one communicated this inadequately and received a warning |
| Reusable cups | 11 | Ten with a deposit system; communication and execution correct across all of them |
| Warning over cash | 1 | Limited cash payment options |
FOD Economie spokesperson Lien Meurisse maintains, in that statement, that there can be no unfair commercial practices under any circumstances, and that clear communication about payment methods and transparency over prices and refunds at festivals remain a priority.
Why it matters
Public noise around festivals and tickets goes almost entirely to resale. When the Belgian inspectorate went looking at festivals' own resale systems, it found nothing. What actually gets penalised sits inside the venue: the money a visitor loads onto a wristband, and what it costs to get it back out. In Spain, that same issue — refunding unspent balance on wristbands — features among the practices behind a consumer-protection fine against a festival organiser.
The three things that go wrong in Belgium aren't fixed by a legal department. They're product configuration: the conversion table for the own currency, information on how and until when balance can be reclaimed, and the ability to top up the wristband with cash. All three are decided when the venue's system is built, not when the inspector arrives. The sole 2024 notice was for an incomplete, unclear conversion table.
The most telling figure is on refunds: of eleven festivals that refunded leftover balance, nine charged to do it. In Belgium that's lawful, because refunds aren't compulsory and a fee can be charged. But only if notice was given beforehand and the process isn't cumbersome. The rule doesn't ban charging; it bans not telling people. It's the same logic behind a well-written refund policy: the problem is almost never the condition itself, it's where it's published.
And the benchmark was written by the sector together with the authorities. The guidelines were drawn up with the two festival federations, the Flemish one and the Walloon-Brussels one, and with the Event Confederation. It's not a standard handed down from above, which leaves little room for the argument that the criteria were unforeseeable.
What to do about this
For anyone running a festival with its own payment method, all of the above translates into concrete checks:
- A complete, legible conversion table. If there's an own currency, the price in euros must also be clearly displayed on site. This is what triggered the sole 2024 notice.
- Cash, at purchase and at top-up. The own payment method must be purchasable both in cash and electronically, and cashless payment is acceptable if it can be loaded or topped up with cash. In 2024 there was a warning over limited cash payment options.
- The refund fee, published in advance. Charging is allowed if the fee is fair, clear notice was given beforehand, and the process isn't excessively cumbersome. Check how many clicks the form takes.
- Who claims the balance, and by when. Leftover wristband balance usually has to be claimed by the visitor themselves, within a deadline. That deadline needs to be written where it can be read before topping up.
- In both places. The failing identified in 2025 was about information on the website and on site. A correct section on the website doesn't cover the signage at the bars, and vice versa. The on-site part is decided during setup, alongside access control.
- Deposits on reusable cups. Communication and execution have to match. In 2024 this was the one area where all ten festivals with a deposit scheme got it right.
- What happens if a show is cancelled or a name drops out. If a festival is cancelled or postponed, there's a right to a refund, and if the new date doesn't suit, the visitor can decline it and ask for their money back; if only the headliner drops out, there's usually no refund. This should be stated before sale, along with the rules on personal, non-transferable tickets and the no-profit resale rule.
- The complaints channel. In Belgium, complaints are filed through ConsumerConnect. Knowing where they come in helps you spot them before the inspectorate does.